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Sunday, October 16, 2011

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Tribal Nails

Let me start this post by saying I am not a fan of tribal nails. I think that they are too busy, and really, what tribe are you referring to? The Sioux? The Quileute? The Pomo? It is kind of insulting to call a random set of lines, dots and triangles a "tribal" design, without trying to make the design specific to a particular tribe, or honoring the beautiful art history of a particular tribe. Sorry, but I had to put that out there. That's just my opinion, and I do love nail art, but I would prefer to see tribal nails that celebrate a particular tribe.

Moving on... in order to do this challenge, I created my own tribe: The Trick-or-Treaters Tribe! We value candy above all else. And therefore, our tribal art features lots of sweets.

Yummy! Give us candy or we will egg your house! And we hate people who give us toothbrushes. We will egg your house if you give us toothbrushes!

I started with a base of my favorite orange polish: Minger from butter LONDON. Oh it is so pretty! This is two coats, another reason I love this polish.

I began the design on my thumb. Paint your candy corn with white acrylic paint first, so that the orange and yellow layers will really stand out. Also, paint the middle candy corn first, so it will be balanced on your nail.

I added lollipops to my index finger, and little wrapped hard candies to my middle finger. Feel free to make whatever kind of candies appeal to you on your Trick-or-Treaters Tribal nails.

You can see how the candy corn looks better with a white base to support the other colors. I really like how this nail turned out.

My right hand does not have a full tribal mani, just two nails with out tribal war-cry: YUM! YUM!

Here is my right hand with topcoat. I like the ring finger a lot, it's so cute.

Here are the nails together. On accident (a happy accident) the triangles I painted around the wrapped candies on my middle finger look like teeth! Nom, nom! The ring finger is two caramel apples crossed together, and the pinkie finger is smarties (love smarties!) with a line of Junior Mints between the two rolls of smarties. I thought for a minute about turning those brown dots into M&Ms but then I was like, "What are you smoking? Are you going to paint with a needle?!!" So I abandoned that idea. Junior Mints it is.

The polishes I used in this manicure: Cult Nails Get It On basecoat, butter LONDON Minger, and Seche Vite topcoat.

Tomorrow is Day 17: Glitter! Halfway through the challenge and I am still loving it! I have to start covering for vacationing coworkers on Monday, so I may be a bit cranky in my posts for the next two weeks. It's me, it's not you. :)